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LINCICOME: 44-44 and what's in store?

Published July 13, 2007 at midnight

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Think of it as a second Opening Day, and as far as the Rockies go, any Opening Day is as good as it gets.

Optimism deserves another chance, made more evident by the fact the Rockies managed to get through to the All-Star break losing no more games than they won, something that could not be said by the defending champion Cardinals or the big-spending Yankees.

Clearly, the Rockies have earned their way into the solid middle of baseball, not a final destination, of course, but a more comfortable place to pause than usual.

So, the reopening is in Milwaukee, and by the time the Rockies get back to Coors Field, the second season could be over, even with such notable anemics as Pittsburgh and Washington up next.

We are aware that the Rockies tend to come out of July and August like soft cheese, but on re-Opening Day, everything is still possible.

It is possible that the starting pitching is sturdy enough to stay close in a division with great pitching, which the Rockies will see immediately upon their return, with San Diego and the Dodgers beginning what will be copious encounters in the second half.

When considering the Rockies' season glory so far has come against the East, notably New York, alas, the Rockies will spend the critical part of their summer with the usual suspects of the West.

It is possible that the Rockies will win the games they must, some 37 in the division and 25 against the Padres and Dodgers, so that September will be the kind of hand-wringer the schedule is set up to make it.

Even San Francisco may yet join the rest to make it a five-team scramble, and it's possible that the last home series for the Rockies, against the Diamondbacks, will matter to someone other than the Container Store.

When the No. 3 pitcher is now the No. 1 pitcher, as Jeff Francis is over Aaron Cook, the first Opening Day pitcher, it is still possible to believe not that one got worse but that the other got that much better.

If Cook is the staff yo-yo, then Jason Hirsh is the staff trespasser, showing up where he is not supposed to, against better pitchers than he.

It is possible to believe that consistency, thy name is Fogg, or maybe it is Buchholz. We usually know by the third inning.

And even if the staff ERA is very near the bottom of the league, it is always near the bottom. It is possible to believe not only in the humidor but in the pitching being just good enough for the hitting to overcome.

While there is still reason to believe that Garrett Atkins has found lately whatever it was he had lost early, imagine the Rockies with the strongest middle of a lineup anywhere in baseball, and this following the hare and the (grey)hound at the top of the order in Willy Taveras and Kazuo Matsui.

With the entire alphabet available - and most of it used at the catching position - the Rockies hang on the letter H, as in Holliday, Helton and Hope . . . er, Hawpe.

It is possible that Chris Iannetta will become the all-purpose catcher he is supposed to be, swapping game time with Yorvit Torrealba and automatically reducing box-score abbreviations to something more comprehensible.

The bullpen is not the shambles it might seem with Brian Fuentes turning from a closer into a donor - he gave at the mound four games in a row - because others have done the same as Fuentes and can until he can again.

And it is possible to recall that Fuentes had a similar bum stretch around last year's All-Star Game.

It is possible to feel good about the pitching, even if it is better to watch with one eye closed.

Possible is too tame a word for Troy Tulowitzki's chances to become National League Rookie of the Year. Sure, he can field, but now he hits, too. And when needed, late in the order and late in the game.

It is possible to project Matt Holliday into the photo for NL Most Valuable Player, all of that depending as much on how the Rockies finish as how Holliday continues.

The two are as clearly connected as they should be.

Holliday has become what Helton was, not that all that Helton has been has meant games in October, or even vital ones in September. If Helton has now become Larry Walker, that is not such a bad thing to be.

Possibly.